Cautious on Cuba politics, Pope goes east for second Mass

HOLGUIN, Cuba, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Pope Francis heads to
eastern Cuba on Monday to celebrate the second Mass of a trip
that has earned him praise for aiding the Communist rulers'
rapprochement with Washington but during which he has steered
clear of overt politics.

He will be the first Pope to visit Holguin, capital of the
province where the Castro brothers, Raul and Fidel, grew up.

On nearly every block, posters welcoming the pontiff adorn
doors and telephone poles, while bike-taxis and horse-drawn
carriages traverse below the yellow-and-white flags of the
Vatican, fluttering alongside Cuba's red, white, and blue.

Raul Castro's government hopes the 78-year-old Argentine
pontiff will condemn the still-intact U.S. economic embargo
against Cuba before leaving on Tuesday.

Critics of the one-party state want support for dissidents,
some of whom have been denied attendance at papal events.

In his first two days, Francis has stuck largely to
spiritual messages in speeches, though he has also called for
tolerance of different ideas and urged the old Cold War foes to
deepen their detente after this year's restoration of relations.

He will be greeted at the airport by a local children's
choir before Mass in Holguin's Revolution Square, under the gaze
of a giant depiction of the 'Virgin of Charity,' Cuba's patron
saint, recently affixed to a neighboring apartment building.

RELIGIOUS AND REVOLUTIONARY ICONS

Before thousands, the pontiff will deliver his message from
beneath a life-size crucifix shipped in from a neighboring
province before flying to Santiago de Cuba to pay homage to a
shrine of the Virgin.

The decorative awning constructed in the square blocks a
permanent monument to Cuban independence heroes just beyond, and
is sandwiched between two new billboards, one with a Biblical
quote and another citing national hero Jose Marti: "Man died one
day on the cross. One must learn to die every day on the cross."

"Believer or non-believer, we believe in the pope!" said
Yami Mendez, a retired schoolteacher in Holguin who is not a
Catholic but, like most Cubans, holds Francis in high esteem.

Climbing the steep road to a hilltop cross where the pontiff
will bless her city, Mendez cited benefits associated with
Francis: the U.S. diplomatic breakthrough, the release of more
than 3,500 common prisoners, and the fresh paint and renovations
at the places he will visit.

In his first two days in Havana, the pope met Cuba's Fidel
and Raul Castro. But there was no encounter for dissidents,
several dozen of whom have been detained to keep them away from
the pope, according to a local human rights group.

Three were dragged away from Revolution Square on Sunday
before the pope celebrated Mass for tens of thousands.

The Castro brothers, both baptized Catholics and educated by
Jesuits, repressed the Church after their 1959 revolution but
relaxed that stance from the 1990s and have now seen three
pontiffs visit them in less than two decades.

Francis, who has provided a crucial back-channel for
messages between Havana and Washington over the past two years,
will fly from Cuba to the United States on Tuesday.

There, he will meet President Barack Obama and address both
the U.S. Congress and United Nations.